1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to laticiferous tissue-specific SRPP promoter from Hevea brasiliensis and uses thereof. More specifically, it relates to laticiferous tissue-specific SRPP (small rubber particle-associated protein) promoter derived from Hevea brasiliensis which consists of nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, a recombinant plant expression vector including the promoter, a plant transformed with the recombinant plant expression vector and seed of the transformed plant, a method for laticiferous tissue-specific expression of a foreign gene in a transformed plant including performing recombination of a foreign gene into the recombinant plant expression vector, and a transformed plant produced by the method which shows laticiferous tissue-specific expression of a foreign gene, and seed of the transformed plant.
2. Background Art
Para rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) generally known as a rubber tree is a plant belonging to family Euphorbiaceae, and it is economically the most important tree among the genus Hevea. Para rubber tree can produce a large amount of latex, which is a main raw material of natural rubber, and is currently known as almost only natural rubber resource which can be industrially used. Ninety percent or more of natural rubber is produced in Southeast Asia region including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar. In Korea, almost 200,000 tons or more of natural rubber are consumed every year, while all of them depend on import.
Rubber biosynthesis in a rubber tree occurs on surface of rubber particles that are floating in latex, which is a cytoplasm of lactifer of a rubber tree. It is known that several RPPs (rubber particle-associated protein) bind to rubber particles. Among them, SRPP (small rubber particle-associated protein) is known as a protein which binds to small rubber particles with diameter of 10 μm or less. However, it is still not clearly determined based on histoanatomical analysis whether or not SRPP is indeed expressed only in latex tissues.
Protein synthesis is initiated by a transcription process by which genetic information encoded in DNA is delivered to mRNA. Specifically, transcription is initiated by binding of a RNA polymerase to a promoter located at an upstream region of a gene. Every promoter has a consensus sequence on a constant location relative to transcription initiation point, and it is known to be important for recognition of promoter and binding by RNA polymerase. The promoter is one of the important factors which determine the production efficiency of a recombinant protein.
Conventionally used CaMV35S promoter from cauliflower mosaic virus is a promoter exhibiting excellent expression efficiency in any tissue of a dicot plant, and therefore it can be most advantageously used for gene expression in plant. However, this promoter is not suitable for tissue-specific expression of a certain gene by transformation. Thus, studies are needed for developing a promoter for tissue-specific expression which can eliminate unnecessary expression as much as possible in undesired tissues.
Inventors of the present invention produced an antibody against SRPP recombinant protein, and by performing immunostaining analysis, tried to determine whether or not expression of SRPP gene derived from Hevea brasiliensis occurs in laticiferous tissue-specific manner.
In Korean Patent No. 10-0789274, a novel promoter derived from Corynebacterium glutamicum is disclosed. In Korean Patent No. 10-0781059, a method of preparing a transformed plant for guard cell-specific expression of a target protein by using an environmental stress-inducible promoter derived from Arabidopsis is disclosed.